Lose Your Shit

On Friday night I ventured to the Brooklyn Masonic Temple for Lose Your Shit, a party featuring DJ sets from two important UK acts. Headlining the bill was The Herbaliser, a venerable twosome (and sometimes band) consisting of founders Ollie Teeba and Jake Wherry. Together, they’ve done well to meld the worlds of funk, hip-hop and soul on their various albums and mix CDs. Then there was Dego from legendary drum ‘n’ bass duo 4 Hero. Along with partner Marc Mac, his productions on their revered Reinforced label helped create the blueprint for headier songs drenched with luscious breakbeats. I’d love to tell you how amazing their sets were but I never got to see ‘em.

I showed up at the Temple around 11:30 while the opening DJ posted on the main floor in front of the stage was spinning a decent set of funky old school hip-hop and party favorites. The venue was still filling up, so I waited patiently. The opening DJ faded out, and second DJ (who was positioned at the center of the stage) took over. I later found out his name is Memory 9, and apparently he had recently discovered the sampler feature on his mixer. Oh, the pain! Every few measures he’d sample and loop a selection of the song, and it was beyond annoying. While another DJ positioned below Memory 9 was getting ready to play on the main floor, the power cut out and everything stopped for a few minutes. The technical problem was fixed and the third local DJ (I think his name was $mallchange) took over. His set contained all of those James Brown records I never want to hear again, and my patience was truly being tested. A little after 1:00 a local disco/R&B band (I later found out they’re called Escort) with string section and horns took the stage and spit out a selection of original tunes that I found most unappealing.

I really wanted to see The Herbaliser and Dego, but I couldn’t take the music anymore. Three opening DJs and a local band are a lot to take in when you only care about the two headliners on the bill. But I learned my lesson: Next time I’ll take a disco nap so I won’t lose my shit again.